Tran's Issue Pt2

Posted on Sunday May 29th, 2022 @ 7:41pm by Lieutenant Finchley Kerr

Mission: EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: USS Oberon & USS Huron
Timeline: MD06 0930hrs

Tran led him to the weapons pod at the upper aft portion of the ship. The ship was equipped with 2 pulse phaser cannons and 6-type seven phaser banks as well as two-photon torpedo tubes 1 forward and 1 aft. The problem was that they had never been updated for modern times. They would be fine for a Starship of the 23rd century, but nearing the 25th century they were completely obsolete and well as lacking advanced targeting systems. Tran did what he could to keep them operating trading parts etc. but he didn't have the technical personnel to keep what he had such as it was at peak efficiency. In fact, efficiency was down to a meagre 62 percent on a good day. The shields weren't much better providing only 70 percent efficiency. This forced Captain Tran to avoid combat if at all possible.

"Let me know what you can do with this ancient system, Mr. Trensu, any help would be appreciated."


Standing in thought for a moment Trensu replied "old yes but fixable. Maybe even an upgrade to Phasers not much can be done with the torpedoes. You would need to go in for a refit."

Meanwhile Maxx pulled out his tools and began scanning all the crates and contents in question. There was a concern seeing the disruptor couplings on a ship without proper channels. Maxx used his drones to scan the parts inside and out as he was building 3D holograms of them so he could see the inside of the disruptor couplings in case any clues were left by accident. Maxx was doing a thorough check for each part, material composition, serial numbers, finger prints, DNA signatures, and compatibility with ships based on design. This was a long and tedious process but he was not going anywhere. Luckily he brought a large jug of coffee to keep him going through his mission.

Tran meanwhile gave a copy of the complete manifest to the security officer for further investigation. They couldn't find any tracking devices or anything else of that nature. While technically the disruptor couplings were not illegal in themselves but combine with actual disruptors would be considered a weapon of mass destruction. Tran cooperated completely with the way team from the Starship Oberon. He then went to the weapons pod to check on Lieutenant Trensu.

"So is there anything you can do to improve our defense systems?" Tran asked.

Trensu thought looking at some things in the area "Sir, I will look at your tactical system I might be able to upgrade some of it. The problem with the old power couplings is they might blow. Believe it or not, we could use shuttle parts from the runabouts. on old ships like this. Sir, let me check and I will inform you."

Finchley in the meantime had been wandering around the cargo bay, looking at the placement of the crates. It would have been a major feat to get them in there in the first place and situate them. As he walked he asked "Captain Trans, can you take me through the whole procedure of these crates being brought onboard. Everything from who contacted you first to have these crates loaded on your ship, who brought them on board, the method used to bring them onboard and more specifically, has any of this been recorded both physically on a manifest and on an actual visual recording? I'd also like to ask if they had any sort of Security with them, did they allow your crew to help them in any way or was this all done by themselves? Once onboard, were did you have your own Security guard them? moving anything this big, no matter how careful you are, leaves a trail, a breadcrumb perhaps, but a trail none the less. I want to be able to trace the movements of these crates and those who moved them...and it'll be there...if you know where to look."

"Of course, we picked this cargo up at Starbase 51. They were brought in by workbees and grav sleds, Commander. I have the bill of lading here on this PADD. 200 containers non bio-hazzard just parts for the colony. Base personnel loaded the cargo in a specific pattern but they managed to get it all aboard. You will see that on the bill of lading that we are supposed to be carrying industrial farming equipment and soil reclaimators, however, we discovered that these are actually heavy duty disruptor couplings for a Valdore class heavy cruiser. if you follow me we dared open one of the containers.
to do a visual inventory. I then went to the base commander who swore me to secrecy and doubled my fee, no questions asked. Then they sent you here to upgrade my ships defenses." Tran said.

"And a visual recording of the loading?" Finchley asked as he followed Trans "Plus, I need the name of the base Commander, don't worry, your name will be kept out of things" he finished.

"Therin lies the problem. The official video was jammed. They used some sort of jamming technology. the name of the base commander was Captain Wainwright, of starbase 32.

Tran handed him the PADD with the recording.

"You said the 'official' video jammed" Finchley said "Are you going to show me an 'unofficial' video Captain?" Finchley asked, more in hope than in certainty, as he accepted the PADD from Trans.

"Cant whatever they used to jam the original also jammed all the secret surveillance cameras we had too." Tran said.

"If memory serves me right Captain, I think they run off a separate system to the rest of the ship, at least, the one's I've come across have anyway" Finchley replied "I'll have someone double check that."

"Tell me Captain, what do you know of this Captain Wainwright from Starbase 32?" Finchley asked.

"I actually know more about his daughter, Lieutenant Vanessa Wainwright. She is the Chief Operations Officer on Starbase 21. Captain Wainwright's background is not something I'm privy to, but after all this, I wouldn't be surprised if he had a background in covert operations, maybe he is or was an operative for section 31." Tran replied.

Finchley pondered this information, then said "I think I know just the person to find that out Captain Tran."

In the weapons pod, Trensu had been working on some of the systems. Trensu was impressed that it had been working this long. After a few tests, Trensu had the information needed. calling back to the ship to get some things repeated and beamed over.

Trensu tapped his combadge "lieutenant Trensu to Captain Tran" Trensu waited for a response "Sir, need a few of your engineers I can boost up your phasers some and get you solid operational Cannons but you have to watch the power output try not to fire everything at once's make sure you cycle the ship's phasers." advised Trensu.

=/\=So one bank at a time judiciously, Acknowledged I will send you help presently Tran out=/\=

=/\= Engineering team, I need you to get to Lieutenant Trensu and do what he says to get our weapons systems back to optimal performance, He is currently in the weapons pod, Tran out=/\=

Finchley made a decision, these crates couldn't be allowed to go anywhere except back to Starfleet, once they were safely taken care of, the investigation of who had put them onboard and why could be taken care of by someone else. He got in touch with the Oberon and gave his orders, turned to Tran and said "These crates will be taken off your ship and taken somewhere safe. We rendezvous with the USS Hotspur in four hours, then it's out of our hands."

"That's the legal thing to do, I hope there won't be any repercussions for you over this." Tran said.

"Well, there may a few questions asked, but to be honest, I believe Starfleet would rather have this whole situation brushed under the carpet, hushed up" Finchley said, once again placing his hands behind his back. He rocked gently back and forth on his heels and then onto his toes, his boots squeaking slightly as he did "I doubt they'll take to kindly that they've been caught with their fly undone" he added, using the old metaphor.

[4 hours later]

With almost all the crates now being readied for moving to the Hotspur, Finchley once more stood beside Tran in the Cargo bay. Tapping his COMM badge he said, "Kerr to Transu, the Hotspur has arrived to take the cargo away, have you finished your upgrades, we need to get back to the Oberon?"

"You, make sure we don't have any problems with that Power conduit," ordered Transu. His comm badge chirped. "Finshing up final test now we should be operational in the next minute or two. I will beam back over in two minutes, Sir" replied Transu.

Finchley tapped his COMM badge again and said "All Oberon crew, this is Commander Kerr. Finish up your tasks, let me know you've done so and are beaming back to our ship, Kerr out."

"We are done Commander" Jo responded. "Beaming back now"

Turing back to Tran he said "Once the Hotspur crew have the crates onboard, they'll take them back to Fleet HQ. I wish you well on your continuing journey Captain" he ended, holding out his hand to Huron CO.

"I will lose my commission, but I am glad we are legal now, May your journey be free from incident Commander." Tran replied.

With a nod of his head, he turned and walked away. This had been a bit of an eye opener, but he was sure the investigation team from Starfleet would get to the bottom of things.

Lieutenant Trensu shook the engineer's hand "Just remember about the power output and the conduits they can move more energy but you can fire everything at the same time give a few seconds." reminded Trensu. The engineers and Trensu said there good buys.

"Trensu to Oberon, one to beeam over." said Trensu.

" Oberon to Lieutenant Trensu, energizing" with swirling lights Trensu was back in the Oberon.


[OFF]

OOC: Great job everyone. Can we all answer any Tags we have, tell Finchley they're character's back on the Oberon, then we can sign off and have this JP posted, many thanks.

Lieutenant Commander Finchley Kerr
Interim Commanding Officer
USS Oberon

&

Lieutenant Ahkhsu Trensu
Executive Officer
USS Oberon

&

Ensign Jo Grant
Asst Chief operations Offcer
USS Oberon